<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>I Can't Get it Out of my Head by LKKG</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26229316">I Can't Get it Out of my Head</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/LKKG/pseuds/LKKG'>LKKG</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Hunter X Hunter</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>my friends in middle school all went through an emo phase and now i have ptsd so Leorio does too, no beta we die like men, soulmate AU where you can hear the music your soulmate listens to even if it's garbage, this is in fact supposed to be cliche af</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-09-01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-09-01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 11:02:07</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,729</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26229316</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/LKKG/pseuds/LKKG</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Sometimes your soulmate has an emo phase and that's okay.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Gon Freecs/Killua Zoldyck, Kurapika/Leorio Paladiknight</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>138</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>I Can't Get it Out of my Head</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>I haven't been able to write in weeks because my notepad app broke on me and Google drive isn't playing nice and I'm frigging furious.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Kurapika groaned, shutting his eyes and letting his head fall against the table with a bang. The sharp throb of pain against his skull was less distracting than he hoped it would be.</p><p>"What's wrong?"</p><p>"The first thing I'm going to do when I find my soulmate is punch them straight across the face."</p><p>Gon patted the top of Kurapika's head sympathically. "Is it Justin Timberlake again?"</p><p>"That was fine, just annoying. No, it's 'Make Sure You've Got it All' by Diamond Rio. This is the fifth time today and yesterday they listened to it, on repeat, for an hour. An hour! It's not even a good song! Well, it is, but they have so many better ones!"</p><p>"Sounds like maybe they're sad."</p><p>"Duh, but like, come on. Have some consideration, please."</p>
<p> </p><p>Kurapika gnawed anxiously on the end of his pen. He knew the answer to this question. He knew he did. He'd studied for this exam for the last three weeks. He just... couldn't focus. This test was too important, the rustling of paper and scratching of pens around him was too distracting, his hands were trembling and he was having trouble reading to the next line of the question, eyes jumping back to the start of the same sentence over and over.<br/><br/>
He was going to fail this test because of his anxiety, he knew it, he knew it-<br/><br/>
Then, slipping into his mind like a gentle wave on a beach, was a gentle pattering of notes, achingly familiar and beautiful.<br/><br/>
Kurapika's soulmate, whomever they may be, had, to Kurapika's best guess, been learning to play piano recently, and the song they had been learning lately was "Right Here Waiting." It had been almost three weeks since Kurapika had heard the first stuttering notes, and listening to the clumsy, though determined, focus his soulmate was putting into this piece made Kurapika's heart ache with fondness.<br/><br/>
Three measures in and the tension had all but bled out of Kurapika. His hands stilled and his brain snapped back into gear as his soulmate tenderly made their way through the song. There was the one sequence they always slipped up on, there was the one note they always missed, there was the one beat they always held longer than they should but made the melody that much sweeter.<br/><br/>
By the time the song was over, Kurapika could barely even remember why he had been anxious. Then a second song began, another gentle, calming tune. Then a third, each one flawed and stunning and exactly what Kurapika needed to hear.<br/><br/>
As he left the hall, exam complete, he closed his eyes and sent a silent thank you to his soulmate, hoping it would reach them, wherever they may be.<br/><br/>
And far away, that someone closed the lid of the piano and smiled.</p>
<p> </p><p>Leorio had decided, as the words "sugar we're going down swinging" flashed through his mind for the umpteenth time, that he fucking hated his soulmate. Clearly his soulmate was the kind that shaped your life in a negative way, because they hadn't even met yet and they were already driving him insane.<br/><br/>
Leorio was seconds away from committing the ultimate taboo and putting in his earbuds to blast his own music as loud as the fucker on the other end of the line was.<br/><br/>
The only thing stopping him wasn't the threat of ruining his chance with his soulmate or being shamed by everyone around him. No, the only thing that kept him from screaming the lyrics to literally any other song was that he was in class with one of the nastiest gorgons this side of ancient Greece.<br/><br/>
A nasty gorgon who was currently approaching his desk, her pointer stick slapping menacingly against her palm. "Mr. Paladiknight. Do you take offense at the composition of hydrocarbons?"<br/><br/>
"No, ma'am-"<br/><br/>
"Do you take offense at my teaching then?"<br/><br/>
"No, ma'am-"<br/><br/>
"Then would you please explain to the class why your face is contorted in such a disdainful manner?"<br/><br/>
"It's not you, ma'am, or the class or material. It's my soulmate, ma'am. They're listening to music very loudly and it's very distracting. Please continue with class. I'm sorry to have disrupted your lecture."<br/><br/>
There. No one could ever say that Leorio Paladiknight didn't know how to kiss up and act polite, though this was more out of self preservation than anything else. It's not like he didn't know how, he just normally chose not to.<br/><br/>
He could practically see the snakes as she stared him down, watching as he failed to contain a flinch as the beat pounded through his brain. The only good news about this was that his soulmate would be easy to identify because by the time they met his soulmate would probably be completely deaf.<br/><br/>
"Very well. I will let it slide this time. Act up again and you'll have earned yourself detention for a month."<br/><br/>
"Yes ma'am."</p>
<p> </p><p>Leorio knew, for certain, three things about his soulmate.<br/><br/>
One, his soulmate was definitely younger than him. Most people were usually less careful about their noise levels until they started hearing their soulmate when they turned fifteen. He guessed them to be a year or two younger, since they'd started being more respectful of their noise level when he turned seventeen.<br/><br/>
The second thing he knew was that his soulmate had grown up to have excellent taste in music. After their emo phase when Leorio was fifteen, a period he tried very hard to remove from his mind but had already decided he would tease them mercilessly about when they did meet, their music taste had steadily improved and diversified, and they were always now extremely respectful of their noise.<br/><br/>
The third thing he knew was that his soulmate felt things very strongly. While it wasn't unheard of for more than music to pass between the bond, it was still uncommon. Leorio mainly felt his soulmates anxiety and there was a lot of it, all the time. He did his best to sooth it when he could, and was often rewarded for his troubles. He still worried sometimes about them, and he'd added a book on anxiety to the piles of medical journals he checked out from the library.</p>
<p> </p><p> </p><p>Kurapika knew.<br/><br/>
As soon as he'd entered the mall, he'd heard the same stupid pop song that had been stuck in his head for the last minute and the feedback loop had begun.<br/><br/>
His jaw dropped and he spun to look at Gon, who had the same stunned look on his face.<br/><br/>
"They're here," they said at the same time.</p>
<p> </p><p>Across the mall, Leorio and Killua shared the same look and the same sentiment.</p>
<p> </p><p>Knowing your soulmate was nearby and actually finding them were two very different things. Somehow whenever people had described the process, they always made it sound so easy, so simple. That you would hear the feedback and look up and they'd be there and you would just... know.<br/><br/>
Suddenly, every insecurity Kurapika had ever  about his soulmate resurfaced in an overwhelming tide. Would they like him? Would he like them? Would he even be able to recognize them? He'd been assured, over and over that he would know as soon as he saw them, but what if he didn't? What if he wandered this mall forever and never found them? What if he was broken, defective? What if he was unwanted?</p>
<p> </p><p>Leorio gripped his chest and grimaced. Whether it was their proximity or the strength of his soulmate's emotions, Leorio could feel their anxiety beating painfully against his ribs. He'd expected his soulmate to feel something more akin to the joy he was experiencing when they met for the first time.<br/><br/>
"What's wrong, old man?" Killua asked, barely constraining his own excitment while worrying about his friend.<br/><br/>
"I think my soulmate is having an anxiety attack and I don't know if I should be insulted or concerned."<br/><br/>
"Nothing usual then," Killua replied. He'd dealt with Leorio's second hand anxiety enough times to know. "I've never hated how big this mall is as much as I do right now."</p>
<p> </p><p>Then it happened. Across the mall's courtyard, a pair of hazel eyes met stormy gray, brown eyes meeting ones the colour of saphires. And, just like they'd been told they would, they knew. All four broke into grins and crossed to each other.<br/><br/>
Gon immediately threw his arms around his white haired soulmate, and Killua flushed pink from his toes to his ears at the enthusiasm of the greeting, awkwardly patting his new-found soulmate's back.<br/><br/>
Leorio stayed a more polite and respectful distance from the absolutely stunning blond before him who was also flushed a pretty dusting of pink.<br/><br/>
"Hi," Leorio said.<br/><br/>
"Hi," Kurapika replied, a little shyly.<br/><br/>
"I'm Leorio. He/him. It's so good to finally meet you."<br/><br/>
"Kurapika. He/him or they/them. It's... really nice to meet you too." Then, like the absolute gay disaster he was, he added, "you're... a lot taller than I was expecting."<br/><br/>
Leorio snorted. "I get that a lot. 6' 3" is bordering on giant territory."<br/><br/>
"Sorry, that came out wrong. Yikes, it's been less than a minute I'm already making a fool out of myself. So much for a good first impression," Kurapika laughed nervously and brushed a lock of hair behind his ear.<br/><br/>
"I hate to break it to you, but that train left the station four years ago."<br/><br/>
"Four years? When I was thirt-" Kurapika blanched, then he dropped his face into his hands to cover his blush as he groaned. "Oh no."<br/><br/>
"Oh yeah. Like I said, it's a little too late. But, on the bright side, we both made it through that... relatively unscathed, and comparatively you made a much better impression this time."<br/><br/>
"Well, at least let me treat you to lunch. Third time's the charm and all?"<br/><br/>
"Yeah, the four of us can..." Leorio looked over at where the two younger boys had been, only find them absent.<br/><br/>
"Knowing Gon, he probably dragged your friend off to the arcade."<br/><br/>
"I hope he's prepared to have his ass kicked then. I don't think Killua's ever lost a game in his life."<br/><br/>
"Gon can hold his own. Kid's got the fastest reflexes I've ever seen."<br/><br/>
"We'll known soon enough. I'll text Killua to meet us when they're through. In the meantime, lunch?"<br/><br/>
Kurapika smiled. "Lunch."</p>
  </div></div>
</body>
</html>